On Thursday 28 October 2021, the official opening of ARTCanggu took place at Hotel Tugu Bali, launching the first series of a Balinese contemporary arts and culture exhibition in support of local artists and their arts.
The launch of ARTCanggu is a pivotal moment in Balinese art development, as its opening ceremony marked important partnerships finally being formalised. The event’s opening saw the Titian Artpreneur Award honouring the latest art entrepreneurial start-ups. One of the founders and the Finance Officer of Yayasan TiTian Bali (YTB), presented the awards and signed MOUs with the first recipients of the TiTian Artpreuneur Award. A presentation by YTB showcased Kick-Start Artpreneur start-ups to representatives of Kementrian Pariwisata dan Badan Ekonomi Kreatif (KemenparBEKRAF), Indonesia’s Agency of Tourism and Creative Economy.
Rio Riawan – the leader of Kelompok Seni Gotong Royong explaining the work of I Madé Wahyu Senayadi at the opening the First ARTCanggu at Hotel Tugu Bali. Left to Right: Lucienne Anhar (Managing Director of Tugu Hotel Bali), Rio Riawan, Nia Niscaya (marketing deputy of KemenparBEKRAF), I Nyoman Bratayasa (chairman of Yayasan TiTian Bali)
Recipients of funding from Yayasan TiTian Bali after MOU signing, from left Nyoman Bratayasa (Founder of Sanggar Bares & chairman of Yayasan TiTian Bali), Rio Riawan – the leader of Kelompok Seni Gotong Royong and co founder of Yayasan Titian Bali and Financial Officer Anak Agung Rai Saraswati . 
MOUs signed between FINNA Group, KemenparBEKRAF and Hotel Tugu Bali
The TiTian Artpreuneur Award promotes product innovations that show novel artistic design and the spirit of collaboration. TiTian Art Space, a branch of YTB, will provide knowledge and know-how in building artistic functional products, access to market and access to capital and start investment.
This YTB initiative is a program of kick-starters, start-up entrepreneurial projects, creating SME’s or other platforms start-ups that are vehicles to enable artistic ideas to transform into saleable products for the Indonesian and global creative economies.
The recipients of the TiTian Artpreuneur Award were: Sanggar Bares (founded in 2018), who promote art for children and young adults; and Kelompok Seni Gotong Royong (founded in August 2020), a collective of artists that was formed during the pandemic, encouraging cooperation and support to one another in creative endeavours. Each recipient received IDR 3.000.000 seed money and IDR 0.5 million monthly for a maximum of 6 years is to support their Artpreuneurship operations costs.
Painted Piggy Banks by I Wayan Dendi
I Nyoman Sukariana (Pimen) 
I Made Wahyu Senayadi 
Works and crafts by Sanggar Bares
Soemantri Widagdo, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Yayasan TiTian Bali has shared, “ArtCanggu is actually a stepping stone, as well as the opening chapter for the collaboration between Titian and Hotel Tugu Bali for the ARTCanggu series in the future, as well as with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy for the development of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises)”.
Art and work from the Sanggar Bares and Kelompok Seni Gotong Royong is displayed in the Hotel Tugu Bali central lobby, a beautiful space that has long been a home to art and historical artefacts. Now it has been enlivened further with these new pieces and installations, such as the unique painted piggy banks pieces of I Wayan Dendi, one-of-a-kind crafted masks by I Nyoman Sukariana, self-made Barong and dance costumes by artist I Made Wahyu Senayadi (who the day after the event was awarded the Bronze Award of 2021 UOB Painting of the Year). Pieces on exhibition are able to view and buy, with some newly created art on sale on a ‘pay as you wish’ basis.
The exhibition will be open in Hotel Tugu Bali everyday from 9am – 7pm, until 11 November 2021.
About Yayaysan Titian Bali (Titian Art Foundation)
YTB, inaugurated in 2016, is an artist incubator for Balinese art entrepreneurs for the 21st-century global creative economy. Its flagship program, the TiTian Prize, identifies and honours emerging artistic talent and awards them a trip for one week for two people to an international art destination of choice and the opportunity for a solo exhibition at TiTian Art Space. titianartspace.com
About Hotel Tugu Bali
Tugu Hotels are privately owned and designed collections of luxury art hotels born out of one man’s love and passion for Indonesia’s romantic history. Tugu Hotels’ founder, arguably Indonesia’s biggest collector of fine Indonesian art and cultural antiquities, designed these beautiful museum hotels to house his antiques and to tell the world the romantic stories and legends of ancient kingdoms of Indonesia. tuguhotels.com
